Can they actually stop me

[Rosebel]

I've been in hospital with pregnancy problems since last Sunday. Had the baby on Wednesday and every day they say I can go home tomorrow but still can't.
They are waiting for a Covid result which might be tomorrow but probably not. This is for the baby not me.
The doctor said they can't let me go but I'm sick of being in hospital. Every day is a reason why I can't go home. Can they actually stop me leaving with my baby?

@MummyBearBoo

They can contact social services though if you discharge yourself with what could be a poorly baby against medical advice. The social services can stop you from taking the baby home!

Social services have no powers to stop a parent taking their baby home from hospital, only police do. I absolutely guarantee that they wouldn't in a situation such as this (usual caveat if OP told the truth etc)

Well SS didn't stop me taking the baby home and not did the police.

Social services have to jump through an extraordinary number of hoops to remove a child from the care of their parents. They can't just take a baby away cause you go from the hospital AMA. They need to establish a much stronger case of neglect than that, given (as this thread shows) that leaving the hospital AMA isn't even neglectful!!

Just in case anyone is in a similar situation and decides to leave the hospital we did not have any calls or visits from SS or the police.
None of the midwives we saw after discharge mentioned it and nor has the HV. My baby is 5 months now so I doubt anything is going to happen now.
So based on this (and obviously it depends on individual circumstances) I'd agree they won't stop you and SS won't get involved (because they are snowed under with children who are actually at risk).

Thanks for the update OP. There was some absolute bullshit being spouted on this thread. My DH and I have both worked in hospitals and when they are busy, which they usually are in the NHS, low priority people who don't have anything seriously wrong with them tend to get left hanging around until they need the bed for a new patient. This can go on for days.

I also self discharged both me and my baby after I gave birth. It was the right thing to do and I'm very glad that I did it - I appreciate that every situation is unique, and as my husband and I are both medical we had insight that some others wouldn't, and I would NEVER advise someone random off the internet to ignore their doctor's recommendations, but all this nonsense about social services and police really needs calling out. Please stop making shit up when you obviously know nothing about it.

Also, in most cases, if you told a nurse that you were going to self discharge and the medical team actually thought something was seriously wrong then the consultant/ reg would probably run like the clappers straight to your bed as soon as they could to try and stop you from leaving.

They cannot stop you leaving with your baby. The only time they could do so is if they had a care order due to prior safeguarding concerns. There iss no reason they can stop you.

@Casschops

They didn't stop her.
She went home with her baby in June